


what am i to do with you (whatever you want)

by youareiron_andyouarestrong



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: F/M, Iris-centric, Realization, Slow Burn, Unresolved Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-11
Updated: 2016-06-11
Packaged: 2018-07-14 09:09:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 704
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7164881
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/youareiron_andyouarestrong/pseuds/youareiron_andyouarestrong
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Iris wants Barry to stand still.</p>
            </blockquote>





	what am i to do with you (whatever you want)

Iris wants Barry to _keep still._

He has always been in motion, ever since they were kids. Waving his hands when he’s excited, talking rapidly, pacing when he’s trying to think or organize his thoughts, fiddling with any loose object, twirling a pen over his fingers (a trick Iris has never gotten the hang of in fifteen years of knowing him). It’s always been a warning sign to Iris when something’s _wrong_ with Barry when he’s standing still.

Being suddenly gifted with super-speed hasn’t helped matters any.

A gust of wind and he’s in front of her like a thought in her head. A sudden rush of air and he’s gone just as quickly. It flusters her sometimes, how quickly he adapted to his powers. Can’t he at least _pretend_ to be a little unnerved by it as she is, if only to keep the balance?

But Barry’s speed is not the only thing that unnerves her.

Ever since that disastrous, bewildering, wonderful Christmas, when he confessed his feelings for her for the first time, Iris finds herself noticing things about Barry she hasn’t before...or maybe she noticed them all along, but never paid it much mind. He leans into her when she talks to him, leans across the table, his eyes never leaving her face. Barry can be remarkably focused when properly motivated and it abruptly occurs to Iris that the _reason_ she’s never noticed him gazing at her like that is because _he’s been doing it forever._ Ever since they were _kids,_ Barry has looked at her when she speaks like she’s the only person in the room.

There are other little mannerisms too. Making sure she has snacks when studying, calling or texting weird-but-true facts when he’s bored in the lab, bouncing ideas off of her when he’s stuck running tests (it doesn’t matter that half of what he says makes no sense to her, it’s just nice to have a sounding board and she’s always liked that Barry never talks down her about science), a discreet hand to hold during the scary, suspenseful parts in movies. A shoulder to fall asleep on during long trips. A voice on the other end of the line, asking about her day.

God, how could she have possibly claimed to have _known_ him as well as she does when this was staring her in the face for almost their entire lives?

But Barry’s speed--Iris finds herself wondering what would it take for him stand still and then veers off from the thought, because she _knows_ what would strike Barry into stillness and that’s always been her.

And sometimes, late at night, alone in bed, that leads to some...interesting thoughts.

She could sit on his lap and wind her arms around his neck, back him against a wall and pin him there with her hips, catch his chin and jaw in her hand and tilt his face to hers. She thinks of his phasing abilities and wonders what would he do if she wrapped something silk around his wrists and tied it to something sturdy.  Not metal or steel, she doesn’t want to _hurt_ him, not even when she at her angriest or most disappointed in him, Iris never wants to hurt him, at least not physically. She knows with a kind of bone deep certainty Barry would _let_ her, he would take anything she could give him and she’s not sure she can bear the weight of that kind of trust.  Maybe someday. But now--no. She can’t _think_ about that, not yet.

Something soft but strong wrapped around his wrists, binding his arms to the headboard of her bed, above his head. His long torso underneath her, strong lean body arching into her touch, a voice she knows like her right arm breathless and eager for her.  Barry _begging--_ god, she wakes up drenched in sweat and trembling at the thought, because all it would take is a _word_ from her and he would.

And here’s the thing that Iris is starting to realize as well. Barry Allen gave his heart into her keeping when they were children. And so has she. It just took her longer to realize it.

**Author's Note:**

> presumably, this takes place in some nebulous timeline after s1, because I haven't watched all of s2 yet. 
> 
> have you accepted Iris West as your lord and savior yet (Barry Allen has)


End file.
